On Sunday January 14 Andy Dinsdale and Sandy Spencer organised a river clean at the North Point Pumping Station.
Another party lead by Sarah Warry from the Mermaid Street Cafe had already collected stuff on Sunday Jan 7 which was removed by the Council. However on Sunday Jan 14 the volunteers found more and it has yet to be determined how to remove the rubbish but it will possibly be by truck.
It was Sandy and Sarah, independently of each other, who discovered the modern man made debris that had drifted to this area left by unconcerned people somewhere else. Andy is planning ongoing surveys once rubbish has been removed and will try to figure out where it is all coming from.
Andy runs Rye Bay Beachcombing and has been posting notices of beach cleans in the Rye Bay area since 2005. He says about the Sunday outing: “Lovely sunny day, wonderful people, masses of old and new rubbish collected, nurdle, also known as ‘mermaid tears’ [they are pre-production pellet form of plastics, 1-5mm in size] and biobead surveys completed, two flares rescued and dated 2002 and 2004, banks of River Rother less polluted with plastic. Biodegradable wood with no nails was left for the invertebrates of the fragile habitat linking salt water and land.”
We should say thank you to the many volunteers who gave their time. If you would like to join a beach clean and get involved email: strandline@me.com
Photos: Andy Dinsdale